The Lovely Bones
by CloudNumber9
Summary: My name is Rockbell. First name, Winry. I was twelve years old when I was murdered on June 6th 1917. Promt, what if Edward hadn't caught Barry the Chopper in time? Main pairing Edwin, with a little EdXOC, and Royai.
1. Chapter 1

**~The Lovely Bones~**

My name is Rockbell. First name, Winry. I was twelve years old when I was murdered on June 6th 1917.

On my last day on Earth I rode the train from Resembool to Central. I was going there with the intention of congratulating my friend Edward on becoming a state alchemist. I had been waiting forever on the steps of the Central Head Quarters for him and his brother Alphonse when a truck across the street caught my attention. I ran over and marvelled at it. It was one of those new refrigerated trucks. I had always loved machinery. My granny had got me into it when I was little to take my mind off of my parent's deaths. I ran my hands across the outside. How I would love to take it apart.

That's when I first saw him. He had disguised himself as a woman. He was lanky and didn't have the physical features like broad shoulders or a pointed chin that would give him away. He offered to let me look inside. Bad things like murders only happened on the battle field back then and I like to think that maybe I wouldn't have gone inside if it weren't for my curiosity to see how it worked. But I did, and that's all that matters now. Because I'm dead and now there's no going back.

The inside of the truck was so nice and cool compared to the boiling hot weather outside. This distracted me as he got in behind me and picked up a frozen leg of lamb. I wasn't even able to turn around before he knocked me out cold.

I woke up later to the sound of metal scraping against metal. He turned around and removed his wig, "Please, let me introduce myself. My name is Barry and this here is my Butcher shop," In his hand was a large butcher knife which he had been sharpening only moments before.

I struggled against the chains that held me to the metal rods above like the meat hanging around me.

"Now, now, it's rude not to introduce yourself after I've invited you into my quaint little shop," he grabbed my arm below the elbow and squeezed it till it hurt, "You're my guest so mind your manners."

My eyes began to water, "My name is Winry."

"Winry...?"

"Rockbell."

When he smiled his eyes narrowed a bit. It reminded me of a snake. He stepped back a bit. His hand moved down my arm and up my neck to caress my cheek. A shiver went up my spine and I resisted the urge to jerk away.

"Where do you live Winry?" he asked as he began to play with a strand of my hair.

I hesitated a moment, "Just outside of Central," I lied.

"You're lying to me," he chuckled. He tilted my chin up with his thumb and fore finger, "You're a smart girl." He laughed and moved his face forward until I could feel his warm breath, "Not very smart though because you got into my truck. He tilted his head down and pressed the hand holding the knife against his stomach as he laughed insanely. He placed the knife at the table by his side. "Like a rabbit caught in a snare," he looked back up at me and smiled a wide toothy grin. "I like young dumb blonds like you," he said running his hands down my chest and along my hips. I couldn't fight the shudder that overtook me this time. He smiled and leaned down to whisper in my ear, "But what really intrigued me about you... was your _need _to take my truck apart," he said as his hand began to wander down farther, "It made me want to take you apart too. I want to see how you tick."

He lifted his hand up to my face to smother the scream that had aroused in my throat. He picked the knife back up and ran his thumb against the blade. "Tell me the truth dear, I want to know _all_ about you," he said before using the knife to cut my dress open.

He had his way with me and when he was done he put the blade to my throat, "Tell me you love me," he said. Gently, I did.

The end came anyway.

**Hey guys. It's been so long I know. I've been very busy because of exams and ISU's lately but now that school is over I have more free time. I'll have you know that the fourth chapter of Beyond the Gate is halfway done. This story is going to be more of a stress reliever. I was very bored today and I was watching a panel where Vic Mignogna was talking about the new Full Metal Alchemist series and then it hit me. Barry the chopper and The Lovely Bones. They go so well together. So I began to write and this is what came out of it. I tried to keep it tasteful while keeping Barry in character, so tell me if something about it irks you. Thanks for reading everyone! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**~The Lovely Bones~**

"How long have you been here?" she asked me.

"Three days."

"I've been here about a week," she said taking the swing beside me. She kicked her legs and the metal that attached the chains to the pole suspending them in the air creaked as she began to soar, higher and higher. I stayed perfectly still, my eyes turned to the ground.

"What's your name?" she asked.

I did not reprimand her for asking my name before giving hers because, well she was so young and it's not like it mattered anyway. Not anymore. "I'm Winry."

"I'm Nina," she said letting go of the chains and soaring off her swing only to land gracefully on the ground. She spun around like a ballerina to face me, "Do you like it here?"

"No."

"Me either."

So it began.

On the fifth day I met Edward's and Alphonse's mother. I remembered her from when I was a child. I was so happy to see a familiar face that I almost knocked her over when I ran up and hugged her. She taught us many things about this place, me and Nina that is. She explained to us that we could have whatever we wanted here. All we had to do was desire it. I told her all I wanted was to live again. She smiled sadly at me and patted me on the head, just like she used to when I was a child and said, "Ah, Winry. That is the one thing you cannot have."

It was Al who took the call on the ninth. It was the beginning of the end. It was Ed's commanding officer Colonel Roy Mustang who was keeping them updated on the investigation.

"Full Metal?" he asked as soon as he answered.

"No this is Al. Ed's... busy." In reality, Edward was waisting away the night doing his own investigation as usual. He had become obsessed with finding Winry.

Not waisting any time Roy continued, "We've found a body part.

My heart broke as Al's eyes dimmed like they did when something struck his heart so deep that it shook his soul. He stood completely still. "What is it?" he finally inquired.

"An elbow."

If he had a body he would have swallowed hard, "So you can't be certain she's dead right? A lot of woman have gone missing in Central the last few weeks," he added on like a spell just like children crossed their hearts and hoped to die or sang to themselves to keep the monsters at bay.

"Nothing is ever certain."

On the fifteenth Colonel Mustang, accompanied by First Lieutenant Hawkeye, travelled to Risembool to speak to my Grandmother directly. When he handed her the evidence bag that held the hat I had worn that day she wanted to cry out.

"Considering the amount of woman who have turned up dead in Central the last month, I'm afraid we're going to have to begin working with this case under the assumption that you granddaughter has been killed.

Tears began to descend down her cheeks, "No... you don't understand. My son is dead... she was my only grandchild. She's all I have left in this world."

"I'm very sorry."

Grandma Pinako packed a bag and left that night. She wouldn't return for a long time.

**Finally updated! Hopefully it won't take so long next time. Thank you Bored something for you review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**~The Lovely Bones~**

Barry Joseph Campbell. That is the name of the man who killed me. The man who took everything from me.

When he was young his mother would chastise him about everything. Tuck in your shirt, your grades aren't high enough, stop eating like a slob, sit up straight. Normal things that any mother would get at their children about. But over the years the criticism became more and more until one day she went to far.

"You're a good for nothing, just like your father."

His mother had been a very loving woman when he was little. But after his father left them to bankruptcy everything changed. She could no longer look at her son without seeing his father.

Soon after she began drinking and the beatings didn't come long after that. What she did to him was so degrading and disgusting... it makes my stomach turn just thinking about it. I hate it but... I couldn't help but feel pity for him.

Finally one day she drank to much. He was ten years old then. After a beating he had laid on the floor for two hours knowing that if he moved he would draw her attention. She lay flopped out on the couch with a whole bottle of scotch in her hand. Finally she drank enough to pass out. He was confused when he heard the gurgling sound she was making. Finally he realized it was safe and went over to inspect her. She was choking on her own barf. A pitiful sight. He knew he should roll her over, he had done so before, but his hands didn't move. His arms hung still at his sides. He watched as she gagged and coughed until she lay still. At first he was shocked then he ran to the neighbors to tell them what happened.

His life was no better at the orphanage. The other kids beat him and thought he was weird. At some points he was beaten half to death. One day a fight took place in the kitchen. He got hold of a knife and pinned one of the other boys hands to a table.

That's when it started. The sensation of the knife cutting through soft muscle, the look of anguish in the boys eyes, the terrible sound that erupted from his throat, they were like music to him. And as soon as he realized it, he feared it, feared himself. He spent the next decade suppressing these feelings, trying to rise above them. When he wasn't able to, to kidnapped small animals, such as dogs and cats, and took it out on them instead. Everything went well. He had a routine. He followed it and nothing went wrong. Until one fateful night...

Barry got married at 22 to a beautiful young woman named Marsha Louis. They had a peaceful life together and were happy. That is until Barry's employer's company went broke and he was left jobless. He looked for work but no one would hire him. He suggested leaving town. Central had tones of jobs for the picking but Marsha refused saying her whole family was there. That's when the fighting started. One day she slapped him across the face and that was enough to set him off. All of his suppressed memories of his mother and the beatings he endured all came rushing back to him and he stabbed her with the knife he had been using to prepare there dinner. He couldn't stop after that, he just kept cutting and cutting her. She begged and she pleaded and he wished with all his might for her to be silent. Maybe if she had been he would have stopped but the more noise she made the angrier he became and the only medicine to that anger was the sensation of the knife cutting through her and the thought of all the pain he was causing her. So he kept cutting and cutting her until she was silent and then he did not stop until she was reduced to a pile of blood on the kitchen floor. And he marvelled afterwards at what he had done and he cherished it.

But after the glamour faded and reality set in he was once again terrified by what he had done. He left town and moved to Central hoping to start a new life for himself. It wasn't long before he opened a butcher shop for himself with his late wife's savings. Most people excepted his story of being a widowed husband who's poor wife's flame had been put out by a rare blood disease that had plagued her since birth and they even pitied him. He had them all rapped around his little finger.

He hoped that running the butcher shop would satisfy his needs, and it did at first. But he felt himself yearning for the screams, the look of terror in their eyes and the feeling of ownership he felt as his victim looked up pleading with him. He was like god to them. He held their life in his very hands and it was up to him whether he let them live... or let them meet their fate.

One day he made a delivery to a man's shop and noticed his daughter making googly eyes at him. She was about 15. He began fantasising about her, her long legs, luscious curves and her long blond hair... he could see himself pulling it out of her scalp with his fists and slicing through her flawless pale skin with his knife. He told himself he would not act on it until one day she made an unexpected visit to his shop.

"I'm here to place an order," she said innocently enough. She had no idea what she had done. It was the perfect setting. The entrance to the building was in a back alley, nonetheless in a very abandoned part of town and it was a butcher shop. No one would find it odd to find blood stains on the floor. It was normal. These thoughts hadn't occurred to him until that moment.

"Does your father know your here?"

"No."

She was his first victim in three years. After that he couldn't stop. It wasn't long after that... I...

I hated him.

**Two updates in one night, I think I deserve a reward. I'll except reviews though pretty please :3**


	4. Chapter 4

**~The Lovely Bones~**

Edward wrote a letter to me two weeks before I died. I never got a chance to send my reply.

Over the week after my death Edward had spent all his time and energy trying to find me. He had pulled out old murder cases and papers for convicted criminals. He separated the living criminals from the deceases and the ones in jail for the ones who were on the streets. He had gone behind the scenes and associated with some really sketchy people. He fought back whenever someone got on his case for trespassing on 'their' territory, digging a little to deep on fragile topics or for just being a plain old dog of the military. Finally he narrowed it down to one person. Albert Capone.

I wish i could tell Edward that he was wrong, that he should stop this and go back to Al. It was stupid and reckless of him and he was going to get himself killed. But this was his way of coping and I couldn't deny him that. I just wish he could see how lonely Al was, how much he needed his older brother in such a trying time.

Capone was a very dangerous man. He had escaped from jail three times and killed ten times as much. He was very smart and people found him very charming, before they figured out that he was a deranged psychopathic killer that is. He could be doing anything, he had the brains for it, but he chose to kill instead because... he got a high out of it.

When I was younger I knew the world could be a cruel and terrible place, what with my parents meaningless deaths and the irony of Ed and Al loosing even more just to fail in bringing their mother back. But I had never realized it could be so... deranged, until after I was dead.

When Al told Ed about Colonel Mustang's call he went crazy. He had returned to their hotel room in the middle of the night like he always did just to leave before sunrise everyday. Ed shed his coat and tossed it on the couch and went to the sink to pour himself a glass of water which he drank greedily from. When he was finished he turned the tap on again to pour himself another.

"Colonel Mustang called today," Al said wanting to get it out in the open in hopes that Ed would stop his hopeless game of cat and mouse and begin acting like a civilized person again. Ed was very still, the glass gripped tightly in his automail hand. The moments that Al couldn't bring himself to speak stretched on like an eternity. Finally he said it, "They don't think she's going to be found alive." He couldn't bring himself to say my name in the same sentence that would bring the end of me. The sentence in which he finally excepted the fact that I was dead, and I was gone.

What happened next was unexpected even for me from where I watched up in my heaven. The knuckles on his human hand turned white and the glass smashed in his other as he gripped his hand into a fist before he punched it hard against the wall forming a hole that sent the smithereens flying in the hallway on the other side. Next he flung all the dishes off the counter sending them sailing to the floor where they smashed into millions of tiny pieces before he flipped the table sending it flying against the wall breaking it in half.

Al stood in a trance unsure of how to react to all this but he didn't have a chance to. Edward had already gone flying out the door. Al tried to follow but by the time he got outside Ed had already hailed over a cab and was speeding away.

When he finally got out of the cab he found himself walking down the abandoned alleys on the outskirts of Central. He remembered the last conversation he had had with Pinako, four words still stuck with him.

She had called him a week after she settled down in her temporary home in Rush Valley. She didn't waist much time with small talk. Finally Edward told her he had an idea of who had done it.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Albert Capone, but I don't have any evidence to prove it."

Pinako closed her eyes before getting up to watch all the school children going home from her apartment window. "If I were still young and able to put up a fight, when I was sure," she paused, "I would find a quiet way, and I would kill him."

"_Find a quiet way_..." Ed muttered to himself as he stalked down the alleyways. He finally reached the house he had been monitoring so closely the last few days, waiting for Capone to slip up and do something to tip him off that he was on the right track. He waited for the light to turn off upstairs before he used alchemy to open the door quietly. He waited a good half hour then crept up the stairs to his prey.

As he passed the doors on his way he saw that he would have to be quick as some of Capone's gang held residence there. How arrogant of him not leaving anyone to keep watch thinking no one would have it in them to face him but in this moment Edward was fearless, consumed in his rage.

Edward stood in the doorway of the mans room and was filled with disgust at the sight of Capone entwined with two other woman, this was short lived when one lifted her head. She looked at him like a deer caught in head lights.

"Who are you?" she said in a quick hush whisper, "I haven't seen you before, are you here to save us?" In that instance all Ed could see in that girl was me, helpless and afraid, exactly as I had been in the moments before my death. He realized with a gripping pain in his gut that his rage hadn't only been holding his fear at bay, but also his sadness and his humility at not being able to save me. His need to kill had left him and all he knew with his entire being was that he needed to save her. Maybe it was because he wanted to make up for not being able to save me or maybe he was just deluding himself into thinking that I was right there in front of him and he didn't need to worry about revenge anymore. Not even he was sure of his motives.

So quietly he woke the other girl. He helped them untangle themselves from the mans limbs. He gave one his jacket and the other his shirt. Quietly he guided them down the stairs of the house and through the kitchen. They were almost out when one of the girls, unable to see well in the darkness bumped against the table. The vase holding a bouquet of dead daisies was knocked over and rolled off the table landing with a smash on the hard tiles. It wasn't long before the whole house was awake and after them.

Edward held them off while the girls ran. Fighting the henchmen was easy enough and he was done in a matter of minutes. When Capone came out the door sporting a rifle the anger he felt earlier returned. He charged at him consumed by his rage and when he did I couldn't recognise him. This was not the Edward I knew. Those weren't his eyes, they were the eyes of an animal.

Capone pulled the trigger, once, twice. I screamed from where I was watching, up in my heaven. A strong wind emanated from me killing the field of flowers I was sitting in. In that moment I truly believed Edward was dead and even though I knew that meant I would be reunited with him soon, I wished with all my heart for it not to be true. My entire being screamed live! LIVE!

When they dumped his body in the canal that wove through the city I knew it was the end.


	5. Chapter 5

**~The Lovely Bones~**

A young Ishbalen girl replaced the newly wet cloth on the forehead of the patient she was attending to. She wondered what kind of person he might be after how he had been found. She thought he must be dangerous getting into so much trouble but unlike the rest of the Ishbalans who would take whatever he had in his pockets and leave him without a second thought, Kala felt a connection with the young boy at the fact that he was running from something as well. So she offered to care for him when no one else would.

Edward was deep under, swimming against drug and nightmare and waking dream. For now he wasn't the son of a deceased mother, a cowardly father, brother of a broken spirit or the friend of a dead girl. For now he had been blessed with sweet oblivion.

Trisha joined me in my field. She picked one of the dead flowers and blew on it till it blossomed fully and beautifully. "When the dead are done with the living," she held it out to me, "the living can go onto other things."

"What about the dead?" I asked looking up at her, my eyes wide like a child, cheeks stained with tears that would not stop falling until Edward opened his eyes, "Where do we go?"

She wouldn't answer me.

In Rush Valley Granny Pinako had already earned a reputation as a skilled mechanic. She had even taken on an apprentice. She had refused to at first but he insisted. He was very serious about his future in automail and to prove it to her he sat outside her apartment for three days without moving even for food or water. Finally she let him in with the excuse that she didn't want to be responsible for him getting sick. In reality she was lonely and his love for automail reminded her very much of me.

His name was Marcel Garcia. He was 14 and had run away from his home in West City in order to study Automail. Granny worked him very hard but he never let on when he was irritated. He kept his eyes on his work and took her flat out insults as constructive critism which he used to better his technique. Even so, Marcel had a temper like a certain someone I know and sometimes they would butt heads but at the end of the day I knew Granny was happy to have the company.

On a bad day Marcel had come home to the sight of my grandmother so intoxicated that she couldn't even stand on her own two feet. He had carried her up the stairs and all the while she had been apologizing to ghosts of her past. After placing her in bed his eye caught sight of a picture set on the desk at his side. He picked it up and saw Pinako holding a new born child. He set the picture back down and decided he wouldn't bring it up.

Two weeks had gone by since Ed had disappeared and Al was a mess. He had helped the military in their search at first but nothing worked. In the midst of the investigation Pinako tipped them off. She had been the only one that Ed had told about Capone. After that the military stormed their base and took them into custody. For the first few days following Roy couldn't bring himself to tell Al about Edward's supposed tragic end. He knew how much the brothers meant to each other and was afraid of how he would take it. Unfortunately, because of this Al overheard the woman Riza, a Lieutenant who worked at his side, trying to convince him to that that they couldn't keep it from him forever.

Colonel Mustang and First Lieutenant Hawkeye realized what happened as soon as they heard the clanging of armor racing down the hall. They tried chasing after him but it was no use. I watched in fear, hoping that he wasn't thinking what I thought he was. Finally, I was given my second miracle in this terrible situation. After all the terrible things that had happened it was well earned at that. That miracle's name was Maes Hughes.

**HA! You all thought I killed Ed! Nu-uh! No way I would leave poor Al all alone like that. Eds been through worse than this and lived to tell the tale! In case some of you haven't realized yet (which I would think its most of you since no one caught on to the whole, Susies dad gets hurt, Ed gets hurt thing) A majority of the character's actions are based on what the characters did in the book. Ed-Susie's Dad (no this is not meant to be weird, just the fact that Ed would be most worked up like her father was), Pinako-Susie's Mom, Al-Lindsey, Trishia-Franny, Nina-Holly****,**** Roy-Len Fenerman and of course Winry-Susie.**

**I know this wasn't very long but I really wanted to update for you guys! As always, thanks to my reviewers!**


	6. Chapter 6

**~The Lovely Bones~**

Barry watched through the window of the kitchen as a blond haired beauty and a raven haired man exited Central Head Quarters and made a B line for their ride.

"Hey Chef, who's that leaving right now?" he asked the man writing up the next order for him.

"That's Lieutenant Colonel Mustang."

Not what he meant.

"… I see…" he replied tucking some of the strands of his brunette wig behind his ear, "and who's that woman with him?"

"That's Lieutenant Hawkeye, Mustangs right hand man, uh woman."

Chef saw how closely Barry was watching the pair and felt a pit of jealousy in his stomach.

"Don't tell me you have an eye for the Colonel, Adara?"

Barry turned and smiled at the unknowing man, "Oh no, of course not."

Barry had eye an eye for someone else entirely.

I could feel myself shaking. If only I had a way to warn her.

At the Hughes house Gracia was making up a bed for Alphonse. Maes Hughes may have acted clueless giving the excuse that Gracia needed company because he worked so much she had been lonely since she had to tend to the baby all the time, but truly he was looking out for him. In reality he knew that Alphonse had to be extremely shaken in light of recent events. He wanted Gracia to keep an eye on him in case he tried to do something reckless.

Al stood in the washroom with the door locked. He stared at his reflection in the mirror pondering life. He thought of his mother of Edward and Winry, and the old house up on the hill… the old house burning in red hot flames, just like his life was. His life was burning and burning everything away until nothing was left, nothing but himself. He wondered what his life had become as he looked down at his hands. What had he become? He grasped his fist together. What was the point with Edward gone? What was he fighting for but the happiness of his brother? He realized there was no point.

Slowly he removed his head and looked at the reflection of the blood seal in the mirror. Just as slowly he reached his thumb towards it. He was in a trance. Unsure of what the outcome of his actions would be.

I screamed for him to hold on. That he has to try because Ed is still alive. That he couldn't give up because they still had to get their bodies back. That they needed to live long and happy lives and forget all the cruelty that the world had thrown at them. That he just had to hold on. Just hold on!

The windows in the washroom smashed open from the gusting wind of an approaching storm, breaking Al from his trance. Soon after he heard the baby's cries and the light returned to his eyes.

He opened the door and watched as Gracia cooed at baby Elicia in the room across the hall. He realized the he couldn't do it there. Not in front of Gracia and the baby. Not where the people who had been kind to him would have to clean up the mess. He just couldn't do it.

Gracia finally noticed Al and looked up at him alarmed, "Al?"

"I'm sorry but I have to go!" he apologized before running out the door.

"Al wait!" Gracia called after him but he was already gone.

* * *

**I hadn't realized that the last time I updated this was in 2010. I wonder if the people who had been following it still remember that it even exists? I guess we'll see. I think the problem was that I was trying to follow the book too much and I was getting writers block. I've decided to grow my roots a little bit and see what happens. I'll still put in references to the book every once in a while to keep with the lovely bones feel. I've decided to end this differently than either of the animes so even though I've based this on the platform of the first anime I'm going to start throwing brotherhood references in as well.**

**Reviews appreciated! Might update faster if I get some critiques as well! I've got the next chapter partially planned out so hopefully it won't take too long if I'm inspired enough to actually write it.**


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